Runaway DragonWolf
by XanderLuvsAll
Summary: Choosing not to wed causes an entirely different outcome then ever intended and one that will forever alter the world


On the day of her wedding, Joanna is on a boat heading to White Harbor instead of in Baelors Sept exchanging one Targaryen cloak for another Targaryen cloak. With only Arthur for company, Joanna was fleeing from all that her Father intended. Fleeing to her mothers family, to the Starks who she has never met but had written to since she had known how to write. Since the Rebellion the Starks had been commanded to never come South again, basically banished to the North unless given permission by the King. There was never a moment the got permission despite their asking repeatedly to be allowed to see her. Joanna knew that her father understood why the Starks had rebelled, he still had to punish them or appear weak before the Kingdoms.

Joanna knew it but would never forgive it, the Game had kept her mothers family from her just as her father had. It was unforgivable, the same as her forced marriage. Which was of course was she running away from home at fourteen. She would not allow her father to take anything else from her and so would not marry someone she could never love.

Joanna had known love, she had wildly and utterly loved Viserys and Dany and had been deliriously happy with them for a few short months before her father had announced her betrothal to Aegon. How she had raged and begged but nothing she did would cause Rhaegar to change his mind. As far as he was concerned, she would marry her brother alongside her sister and that was that. Viserys had left from Dragonstone as soon as she had sent word and had died for it. His ship had been destroyed in a storm and he was lost to her.. Leaving Joanna devastated beyond anything and betrothed. With no alternate Joanna had no hope of changing her father's mind. In one move Joanna had lost her love and gained a betrothal tt her brother. Joanna would never forgive her father for either.

Nor would she ever obey him after that.

As far as Joanna was concerned he had killed Viserys as much as the storm had. Simply because he had not listened to her.

So Joanna would not listen to him.

It had thankfully not taken Joanna long to convince Arthur of helping her with her intentions. Arthur was her fiercest protector and most beloved friend not of her blood. Not because he was her White Shield but because he had loved her mother. Joanna knows that they had never been together but that the had both loved each other fiercely. Having falling in love while trapped in the Tower of Joy. It was a story that Arthur had told to her for years. The only person that truly ever talked about her mother. Her father was always to stricken by his grief to ever speak of her and Joanna had long learned to not even bother asking. Both of them had loved Lyanna Stark but only one would tell her daughter anything. Showing who had the truest love in the end.

Arthur helped her get out of the Red Keep and get onto a ship going North. Then he got her to Winterfell. All without being discovered as Visenya Targaryen, Princess of SummerHall. Named Joanna by her mother it was the name she preferred and was thus the name she went by no matter what her Father wanted.

Seeing her Uncle for the first time, Joanna's breath caught. It was like looking in the mirror. Save for the masculine feature, they looked so alike. Arthur had always said she was the image of her mother but now Joanna knew that she was the image of the Starks. All her life Joanna had not felt like she belonged as she looked nothing like her family but now...now she did. In her shocked happiness, Joanna stepped forward and reached for her hood but Arthur grabbed her before she could and she remembered the plan. Wait until they were alone with Eddard. It took some time as her Uncle was listening to the troubles of his people. When everyone but Joanna, Arthur and her Uncle was left, she stepped forward.

"Hello Uncle." Joanna lowered her hood and she watched as Eddard face descended into shock and then he sprang up and moved swiftly to her. Arthur tensed at her side but for once Joanna ignored hm and accepted her Uncle's embrace.

"I am truly so happy to see you...I thought...all of her was lost...I thought had...failed her...Your here...Your not..gone."

After a moment Eddard's mumblings truly began to confuse her so Joanna pulled a little away from him and looked into his eyes. "Uncle, what do you mean?"

"Word reached Winterfell two days ago. That you had disappeared the day of your wedding...Rumor was that you had...taken your own life...instead of marrying...I thought that you were dead...That Lyanna's child was dead.. I promised Lyanna that I would take care of you.. I thought that I had failed my sister once again."

"No." Joanna was shocked. Never had she thought they would think her dead. She had left a note...Her note. Joanna whirled around to look at Arthur. "My note."

"What about it, Princess."

"I said..." Joanna winced, realizing how they had taken it. Not how she intended at all. "I said that I could not bare to marry Aegon. That after all he had done to me over the years I would not marry him or Rhaenys...I said that I had loved and lost Viserys and...I could not bare to marry another...I said that they would never see me again... That this was goodbye forever."

Arthur grimaced as he realized the same thing as her. It was basically a suicide note. There was no surprise that they would think her dead. Arthur briefly wondered how Rhaegar was handling it, his grief must be horrendous as he had truly loved Lyanna and still loved Joanna despite not being willing to listen to her. Arthur and Rhaegar may no longer be the friends they had once been,Lyanna would always stand in their way but Arthur did not want him to suffer this. Rhaegar deserved to be hit for forcing Joanna to do this but not to believe that his daughter had taken her own life because of him. That wasn't right. but..

Joanna voiced the but. "What do we do? We cannot tell them without... How can we let them know I'm alive without being forced back to marry Aegon."

"You cannot." Both Joanna and Arthur jumped,having briefly forgotten Eddard was there. Eddard tighten his grip on Joanna."There is no way to tell them without revealing where you are."

"I...I hate him but...He doesn't deserve to believe I killed myself because of him." The face Eddard made indicated he disagreed about that. Joanna was not surprised with that, for while he had never written to her about his true feelings about her father, Joanna could still read between the lines. He belied that Rhaegar had killed Lyanna just by taking her, just as Arthur did. Eddard resented Rhaegar for keeping Joanna from her mothers family all her life and he even partially blamed Rhaegar for the deaths of his father ad brother. So Joanna was not surprised that he wouldn't mind her father suffering but she didn't want that. And it would just be her...Joanna let out a moan. Oh Gods.

Arthur instantly moved to her side. " is it? "Arthur never called her by name in front of others but that moan had sounded like she was dying.

"Dany." Joanna sank to the ground. Dany would believe that she was dead, that she had lost Joanna just as she had lost Viserys. Joanna could not bare that thought. Dany had withdrawn into herself after Viserys death, barely functioning after losing their lover and then Joanna's subsequent betrothal. She had not left Dragonstone since Viserys funeral and Joanna had not been allowed to go to her but Rhaella had written how bad Dany was. How would she react to this. Joanna...couldn't bare this. Couldn't do this. "I have to go back."

Arthur and Eddard knelt beside her. Each taking a hand.

Eddard looked at her solemnly. "Joanna, if you go back there is no turning back ...You will never be allowed to leave again."

"I know... but it was never my intention to let them believe I wad dead.. To let Dany think I was... She cannot bare to go through this again."

Eddard had known of her relationship with Viserys and Dany both so he was not surprised by her worry for her. Eddard would never be accepting about incest but his niece was a Targaryen so he knew that to her it was not wrong. She had runaway from her marrying Aegon, not because he was her brother but because he had always been cruel to her. Joanna had truly loved Viserys and Dany, had even written about trying to gain permission to marry Viserys just as Dany had married him a year before. Eddard had been happy that she had found love and had not cared with who. When word had reached the North of the Prince's fate Eddard had truly been devastated. Joanna had not responded to any of the families ravens for weeks. Even after word had come of the betrothal of Joanna to her siblings.

It had gotten to the point that Ned had genuinely thought about going to Kings Landing, ignoring the Kings command to never come South again. It was only Joanna finally writing to them that had stopped it. Though her words had not truly reassured any of them. Ned and his children all knew that Joanna hated her siblings and to be forced to marry them after just losing Viserys was beyond cruel. It had been devastating but not surprising when Ned learned that she had chosen to take her own life as opposed to marrying Aegon. Finding out that she didn't was a truly great moment for Ned.

"What if we secretly get word to Dany... Tell her that you live... Will you stay then." Eddard had never liked or been a part of a dishonest plan but to keep Joanna at his side, to prevent her from going back to a marriage she would hate and be miserable in..Then he would lie, dishonor himself and his family or anything and everything.

Joanna jerked and finally faced him."How...No messenger could be so trusted and..ravens don't always reach their destinations...There's no way to tell her without risk and there's no telling how Father would react to finding out you are keeping me here while all believe I'm dead."

"You wrote once that you and Dany had a secret language, a mixture of Valyrian and the Old Tongue.. Use that."

Joanna knew there was still risk in that but...as much as she didn't want her father and grandmother to mourn her when she wasnt dead, as long as Dany wasn't, Joanna could stay in the North. She wouldn't have to marry Aegon and Rhaenys. So she resolutely nodded." You'll send her a..letter ...saying you grieve with her and I'll leave a message at the end of it...So she'll know I live and am safe... That will have to be enough."

That night Joanna went to bed for the first time in her mothers home, free of all that had once been crushing her in Kings Landing. She should have dreamed happily and she did, in the beginning. Joanna dreamed of Dany. Of Dragonstone. She dreamed that Dany was in the Dragon Vault, the place where the Targaryen hoarded their most prized treasure. Dragon eggs. It was there that Joanna, Dany and Viserys had first been together. It was there that they had begun their relationship. Dany looked so beautiful that even dreaming it stole Joanna's breath. She longed to touch but when she did her hand just passed through her. Dany was thinner then the last Joanna had seen her and there was a dead look in her eye but still so beautiful.

Dany looked around at the eggs. "All of this to bring back dragons. A stupid prophecy has cost me everything. Here it began so here it shall end."

It was here that Joanna's dream became a nightmare, for it was here that Dany reached for a glowing green jug. She threw it at the wall holding the eggs then grabbed another and another and another. Repeatably until the room was engulfed in flames. It was only when Dany grabbed the last one and poured it over herself that Joanna finally screamed and jerked awake still screaming. It took Arthur hours to calm her while the Starks hovered around them as she sobbed and begged Arthur to reassure it was just a dream. That Dany was alright.

Joanna completely forgot about the shrieks that had sounded just before the dream had ended.


End file.
